For Spanish football fans it has long been a source of shame: with their side on the pitch, they are unable to sing the national anthem.

The problem is that the piece, known as the Royal March, has no official words. One set of lyrics was used during the reign of King Alfonso XIII, which ended in 1931. Schoolchildren then sang another during the four-decade dictatorship of General Franco.

When he died in 1975, his lyrics went with him, and no one has since been able to agree on new ones.

A generation of Spanish football fans have been condemned either to standing mutely or imitating the anthem’s brass bombast, using nonsensical sounds such as “chunda chunda ta-chunda chunda”. Schoolchildren have often filled the void with their own lyrics — not always to the liking of their elders.

More recently, anti-government rallies have suffered from similar problems, with hundreds of thousands of fired-up protesters being forced to stand about silently as the national anthem played. “It’s an absurd state of affairs,” said Gustavo Jaso, secretary of the Ermua Forum, a conservative group that has organised a series of protests against the Socialist Government. “Without doubt it reflects a deep-seated deficiency in our country.”

The Ermua Forum has decided to do something about the situation. Mr Jaso said that a panel of experts had written new verses for the anthem and planned to release them after next month’s local elections.

To judge by previous attempts, the latest effort could face an uphill struggle. Last week it emerged that the former Prime Minister, José MarÍa Aznar, had asked a group of poets to write some lyrics for the anthem during his Government. But the effort apparently foundered after no one agreed on a text.

“The worst thing you can do is ask a group of poets to agree on a verse,” Jon Juaristi, a writer and historian, who was part of the group, said.

The highly polarised political landscape offers a further problem. Nationalists from Spain’s most restive regions, the Basque Country and Catalonia, often view the Spanish flag and anthem as an imposition. Leftists also resent what they call the “appropriation” of national symbols by the Right.

Some of those who have been involved in efforts to write the words for the anthem say that the Ermua Forum is too partisan for such a task. “I don’t think it’s a bad idea for countries to have their own anthems, or for them to have words, but it needs to have a very broad consensus among the political forces and the population,” Mr Juaristi said.

The Ermua Forum remains undaunted by the criticism. Mr Jaso said that its words were not intended to be definitive, but to get the ball rolling. “It is simply a contribution,” he said.

So does he sing the new words when he hears the anthem? “No, if I sing it rains,” Mr Jaso joked. “I’m really a terrible singer.”

Singing for king and country

First version; used during the reign of Alfonso XIII from 1886 to 1931; words by Eduardo Marquina

Glory, glory, crown of the Fatherland sovereign light which in your standard is gold.

Life, life, future of the Fatherland, in your eyes it is an open heart

Purple and gold: immortal flag; in your colours, together, flesh and soul are.

Purple and gold: to want and to achieve;

You are, flag, the sign of human effort.

Glory, glory, crown of the Fatherland . . .

Second version; used during the rule of General Franco; lyrics by José MarÍa Pemán

Viva España, raise your arms sons of the resurgent Spanish people

Glory to the Fatherland that knew how to follow the blue of the sea and path of the sun.

Triumph of Spain! The anvils and wheels sing in time to the hymn of faith . . .

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